Actually, there were opponents and even some supporters of the Iraq war who saw increased Iranian power as a risk of regime change. They weren’t necessarily correct in all their predictions — they tended to think Iraq would have to fall apart for Iran to be empowered, for example. But given that Iraq’s role as a counterweight to Iran had long been a key part of the United States’ strategic interests there and that this was one of many factors that militated against going all the way to Baghdad in the first Persian Gulf War, this development can’t be a complete shock.
